Device for acupuncture

ABSTRACT

A device for acupuncture is disclosed. The device has a pressure plate  100  having a polygonal profile. Both a magnet  300  and a magnetic body  400  are set in the pressure plate  100 , with the magnetic body  400  being brought into contact with the magnet  300  at its upper end. The magnetic body  400  also extends through the pressure plate  100  so as to project outside the lower surface of the plate  100  at its lower end. The pressure plate  100  is also provided with both a plurality of fitting rods  130  and the same number of channelled fitting tubes  140 . When it is desired to assemble two or more pressure plates  100  into an assembly, the fitting rods  130  of one plate  100  are elastically coupled to the channelled fitting tubes  140  of another plate  100 . A cap  200  is mounted to the upper surface of the plate  100  and seats both the magnet  300  and the magnetic body  400  therein. A tubular member  500  is fitted into the pressure plate  100  from the lower surface of the plate  100  and is locked to the cap  200  at its upper end. The tubular member  500  has a central bore  530  allowing the magnetic body  400  to axially extend through until the conical tip of the magnetic body  400  projects outside the lower surface of the plate  100 . This device is formed as a unit cell, and so two or more devices are easily and orderly coupled to each other into an acupuncture assembly, having desired size and shape, when necessary. The device of this invention may be attached to a desired part of the body using a band or may be coupled to each other into a bed mattress-sized assembly preferably usable as a healthful mattress for beds. This device thus allows a user to save money while purchasing such a device and gives a desired acupuncture treatment effect to the user.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates, in general, to a device for acupunctureand, more particularly, to a structural improvement in such anacupuncture device to directly apply the healthful far infrared rays,anions and lines of magnetic force onto the human body and to allow auser to easily and simply fabricate an acupuncture assembly, havingdesired shape and size, by appropriately assembling a plurality ofacupuncture devices individually formed as a unit cell, havingpredetermined shape and size, into a desired assembly.

2. Description of the Related Art

As well known to those skilled in the art, a radiation of far infraredrays, anions and lines of magnetic force onto a specified area on thehuman body is very healthful to the human body, and so several types ofdevices for acupuncture designed to radiate such far infrared rays,anions and lines of magnetic force onto a desired specified area on thehuman body have been proposed and used.

However, conventional devices for acupuncture are problematic asfollows. As shown in FIG. 1 a, a magnetic body 20, provided at aposition around a magnet 10, has a flat surface at its body contactportion.

Due to such a flat surface of the body contact portion of the magneticbody 20, the lines of magnetic force, emitted from the magnet 10 andpassing through the magnetic body 20, fail to be concentrated onto adesired specified spot on the skin of the human body, may be undesirablydispersed, thus almost failing to accomplish a desired acupuncturetreatment effect.

Another problem resides in that their radiation members for emitting farinfrared rays, anions and lines of magnetic force are separatelymanufactured and are separately sold in markets, thus forcing users toseparately purchase them while paying excessive money and to use themseparately during an acupuncture treatment and thereby being veryinconvenient to the users. Such separate radiation members, designed toseparately emit far infrared rays, anions and lines of magnetic force,also prevent acupuncture devices to accomplish a desired synergisticeffect expected from a combination use of all of such radiation membersduring the acupuncture treatment.

In an effort to overcome the problems experienced in such conventionaldevices for acupuncture, the inventor of this invention proposed devicesfor acupuncture in Korean Patent Nos. 133,133 and 198,982. In each ofthe above devices of this inventor, the magnetic body 400, provided at aposition around a magnet 300 as shown in FIG. 1 b, has a conical shapeat its body contact portion. Therefore, these devices both somewhateffectively concentrate the lines of magnetic force from the magnet 300at the point of the conical portion of the magnetic body 400, thusimproving the concentration effect of the lines of magnetic force. Thisfinally accomplishes a desired acupuncture treatment effect. The abovedevices for acupuncture of this inventor also have an integratedpermanent magnet designed to commonly radiate desired far infrared rays,anions and lines of magnetic force at the same time and to radiate thehighly intensive far infrared rays, anions and lines of magnetic forceonto a desired part of the human body at the same time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind theabove problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the presentinvention is to provide a device for acupuncture, which is formed as aplate-type unit cell for acupuncture, the unit cell being designed to beusable separately and independently or to be usable as an acupunctureassembly with a plurality of unit cells being coupled to each other intoa plate-type assembly having desired shape and size.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a device foracupuncture, of which the plate-type unit cell is designed to be easilyassembled with one or more additional unit cells into a plate-typeassembly having a desired area.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a device foracupuncture, which has an integrated radiation member capable ofcommonly radiating desired far infrared rays, anions and lines ofmagnetic force at the same time, and which is structurally designed toallow desirably intensive far infrared rays, anions and lines ofmagnetic force from the integrated radiation member to beconcentratively radiated onto a desired specified area of the humanbody, and thereby to maximize the desired synergistic effect.

In order to accomplish the above objects, an embodiment of the presentinvention provides a device for acupuncture, comprising: a pressureplate having a central opening at a center thereof; a cap mounted to theupper surface of the pressure plate and seating a permanent magnettherein; a magnetic body seated in the cap while being brought intocontact with the magnet at its upper end within the cap, the magneticbody extending through the central opening of the pressure plate so asto project outside the lower surface of the pressure plate at its lowerend; and a support means for holding the cap, the permanent magnet andthe magnetic body on the pressure plate. The support means is a tubularmember, which is fitted into the central opening of the pressure platefrom the lower surface of the plate and is locked to the cap at itsupper end, with the magnetic body axially extending through the tubularmember. The lower end of the magnetic body has a conical shape with asharpened tip.

In the above device, the pressure plate has a polygonal profile. Thetubular member has a flange at its upper end, with a cylindrical fittinghub being defined on the external surface of the tubular member at aposition under the flange. On the other hand, the cap has a central holeon its bottom wall. The flange of the tubular member is seated on andstopped by the interior surface of the edge of the central hole of thecap, thus locking the tubular member to the cap. The magnetic body isalso flanged on its upper end coming into contact with the magnet, thushaving a seat flange at the upper end. The above seat flange of themagnetic body is seated on the upper end of the tubular member, thusholding a position of the magnetic body relative to the tubular member.

The above tubular member is made of a plastic material mixed with ananion emitting material and/or a far infrared ray emitting material.

Meanwhile, the pressure plate is provided with a prominence anddepression structure allowing two or more pressure plates to beassembled with each other into an assembly when necessary. Theprominence and depression structure is composed of both a fitting rodand a channelled fitting tube, with the fitting rod of one pressureplate being elastically fitted into the channelled fitting tube ofanother pressure plate when two or more pressure plates are assembledinto an assembly. In another embodiment, the pressure plate is providedwith both hook and pile pieces of a Velcro fastener, allowing two ormore pressure plates to be assembled with each other into an assemblywhen necessary, in place of the prominence and depression structure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of thepresent invention will be more clearly understood from the followingdetailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 a is a view, showing the lines of magnetic force radiated from aflat magnetic body in a device for acupuncture in accordance with anembodiment of the prior art;

FIG. 1 b is a view, showing the lines of magnetic force radiated from aconical magnetic body in a device for acupuncture in accordance withanother embodiment of the prior art;

FIG. 2 is a top perspective view of an acupuncture device formed as aplate-type unit cell in accordance with the primary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 3 is a bottom perspective view of the device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of an acupuncture device formed as aplate-type unit cell in accordance with the second embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIGS. 7 a and 7 b are perspective views, showing a coupling structureprovided on the acupuncture device of this invention

FIG. 8 is a side view of two acupuncture devices of this inventioncoupled to each other into a desired assembly; and

FIG. 9 is a top perspective view of a plurality of acupuncture devicesof this invention coupled to each other into a desired assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, preferred embodiment of the present invention will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawing.

FIGS. 2 to 4 show an acupuncture device formed as a plate-type unit cellin accordance with the primary embodiment of the present invention. Asshown in the drawings, the acupuncture device of this invention isformed as a plate-type unit cell for acupuncture. This unit cell iscomposed of a pressure plate 100, with a cap 200 having a regularhexagonal of the pressure plate 100. Both a magnet 300 and a magneticbody 400 are set within the cap 200 in a way such that the magnet 300positioned on the interior surface of the top wall of said cap 200, withthe magnetic body 400 coming into contact with the lower surface of themagnet 300 at its top surface and extending downwardly to be partiallyexposed outside the lower surface of the pressure plate 100 at its lowerconical tip. A tubular member 500 is firmly fitted in a central openingof the pressure plate 100 and is caught by the holed bottom wall of thecap 200 at its annular top flange. The magnetic body 400 passes throughthe tubular member 500 while extending downwardly from the magnet 300 tothe outside of the lower surface of the pressure plate 100. A cellcoupling means is provided on the pressure plate 100 of the device forallowing a plurality of devices to be coupled to each other into anacupuncture assembly, having desired shape and size, when necessary.

The pressure plate 100 is a regular hexagonal plate body made of aplastic material and has an opening 110 at the center thereof, andreceives the tubular member 500 at the opening 110. Four conicalpressure projections 150 are regularly formed on the lower surface ofthe pressure plate 100 at diametrically opposite positions around theopening 110. Provided on opposite side portions of the pressure plate100 at positions outside the central opening 110 are two air circulationholes 160. These air circulation holes 160 allow moisture, caused by,for example, perspiration, to effectively evaporate from the skin of thehuman body when the device is set on the skin.

In the device for acupuncture of this invention, the cell coupling meansis integrally formed along the edge of the top surface of the regularhexagonal pressure plate 100.

As shown in FIG. 7 b, the cell coupling means comprises a prominence anddepression structure composed of three bent linear flanges 120, whichare formed along three continued edges of the six edges of the regularhexagonal pressure plate 100. Each of the three bent linear flanges 120is primarily bent upwardly at right angles prior to being secondarilybent outwardly at right angles. A fitting rod 130 is integrally andlongitudinally formed on the lower surface of the outwardly extendingportion of each bent linear flange 120.

The cell coupling means also comprises three channelled fitting tubes140, which are integrally and longitudinally formed on the upper surfaceof the remaining three edges of the regular hexagonal pressure plate 100as best seen in FIG. 7 a. Each of the three fitting tubes 140 has alongitudinal channel capable of elastically receiving an associatedfitting rod 130 of a neighboring device through a snap fitting processwhen two or more devices are coupled into a desired assembly. In theprimary embodiment, the cell coupling means comprises three fitting rods130 and three channelled fitting tubes 140 as described above. However,it should be understood that the cell coupling means, provided on thedevice of this invention, may comprise the hook and pile pieces of threesets of Velcro fasteners in place of the fitting rods and channelledfitting tubes without affecting the functioning of this invention. Theabove tubular member 500 is designed to be firmly fitted into and set inthe central opening 110 of the pressure plate 100 as shown in FIG. 4.This tubular member 500 has a cylindrical body, with a regular hexagonalbase 510 formed at the lower end of that member 500 by outwardly andhorizontally extending from the circular edge of said lower end. Anannular top flange, having a size smaller than that of the hexagonalbase 510, is formed at the upper end of the tubular member 500 byextending horizontally and outwardly. A cylindrical fitting hub 520 isthus defined between the top flange and the lower hexagonal base 510 ofthe tubular member 500 and is positioned within the central opening 110of the pressure plate 100. A central bore 530 is axially and completelyformed from the upper end to the lower end of the tubular member 500 andallows the magnetic body 400 to pass through.

The tubular member 500 is preferably cast into a single body using aplastic material mixed with at least one of a material capable ofemitting anions and a material capable of emitting far infrared rays,such as a bioceramic material. Therefore, the tubular member 500radiates anions and/or far infrared rays onto a desired part of the skinof the human body, thus activating the blood circulation at that partand promoting a self-production of interferon in the human body andthereby maximizing the acupuncture treatment effect.

On the other hand, the cap 200 is a regular hexagonal hollow body havingan interior chamber 210 designed to seat both the magnet 300 and themagnetic body 400 therein. The magnetic body 400 is an integrated bodycomposed of a cylindrical part and a conical tip formed at the end ofthe cylindrical part. The bottom wall 220 of the cap 200 is holed at thecenter, thus forming a central hole. The upper end portion of thefitting hub 520 of the tubular member 500 is positioned within thecentral hole of the cap 200, with the top flange of the tubular member500 being firmly caught by the edge of said central hole within thechamber 210 of the cap 200. The remaining part of the fitting hub 520 ofthe tubular member 500 is set in the central opening 110 of the pressureplate 100. The pressure plate 100, the cap 200 and the tubular member500 are thus somewhat closely and firmly assembled into a single body asbest seen in FIG. 5.

The magnetic body 400 is made of a conductive metal and has a conicaltip at its lower end, with an annular top seat flange 410 horizontallyand outwardly extending from the edge of the top end of the magneticbody 400. The magnetic body 400 is brought into contact with the lowersurface of the magnet 300 at its top surface. When the magnetic body 400is received into the central bore 530 of the tubular member 500, the topseat flange 410 of the magnetic body 400 is seated on and stopped by theannular top surface of the top flange of the tubular member 500. It isthus possible for the magnetic body 400 to be stably held in the tubularmember 500 without being undesirably removed from that member 500.

In the acupuncture device according to the second embodiment of FIG. 6,the cap is cast with the pressure plate 100 into a single structurethrough an injection molding process different from the cap 200 of theprimary embodiment, which is separately produced prior to beingassembled with the pressure plate 100 into a desired unit cell. In thedevice of this embodiment, the construction and relative position of themagnet 300, the magnetic body 400 and the tubular member 500 remain thesame as those of the primary embodiment and further explanation is thusnot deemed necessary.

The device for acupuncture according to the primary embodiment of thisinvention will be fabricated and operated as follows.

In order to fabricate the acupuncture device according to the primaryembodiment of this invention, the magnet 300 is primarily set within thechamber 210 of the cap 200 and the magnetic body 400 is secondarily setwithin the chamber 210. On the other hand, the tubular member 500 isfitted into the central opening 110 of the pressure plate 100. In such acase, the cylindrical fitting hub 520 of the tubular member 500 ispositioned within the opening 110, with the top flange and the hexagonalbase 510 of the tubular member 500 being positioned outside the upperand lower surfaces of the pressure plate 100. The tubular member 500 isthus assembled with the pressure plate 100.

Thereafter, the separately produced cap 200 is assembled with thetubular member 500 at a position on the upper surface of the pressureplate 100. When the cap 200 is precisely fitted over the fitting hub 520of the tubular member 500 on the upper surface of the plate 100, themagnetic body 400 is inserted into the central bore 530 of the tubularmember 500 until the conical tip of the magnetic body 400 is completelyexposed outside the lower end of the tubular member 500 on the lowersurface of the pressure plate 100. On the other hand, the top seatflange of the magnetic body 400 is seated on and stopped by the annulartop surface of the tubular member 500. The magnetic body 400 is thusstably held in the tubular member 500 without being undesirably removedfrom that member 500. In such a case, the fitting hub 520 of the tubularmember 500 is positioned within both the central hole formed on thebottom wall of the cap 200 and the central opening 110 of the pressureplate 100. The top flange of the tubular member 500 is firmly caught bythe edge of the central hole of the bottom wall within the chamber 210of the cap 200, while the hexagonal base 510 of the tubular member 500is caught by the edge around the central opening 110 of the pressureplate 100 on the lower surface of that plate 100. The pressure plate100, the tubular member 500 and the cap 200 having both the magnet 300and the magnetic body 400 are thus closely and firmly assembled into adesired acupuncture device of this invention.

As shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, it is possible for a user to easilyfabricate an acupuncture assembly, having desired shape and size, usingtwo or more acupuncture devices formed as unit cells. In the case ofassembling two devices into an assembly, the two devices are easilyintegrated into a desired body by elastically locking a fitting rod 130provided on the edge of the pressure plate 100 of one device, or a firstcoupling member of the first device, into a channelled fitting tube 140of the pressure plate 100′ of the other device, or a second couplingmember of the second device.

When it is desired to assemble three or more devices of this inventioninto an assembly, the devices, formed as unit cells, are easily andorderly coupled to each other by locking the fitting rods 130 into thechannelled fitting tubes 140 in the same manner as described above. Itis thus possible for a user to easily and simply form an acupunctureassembly, having desired size and shape, using two or more devices.

Therefore, it is desired to form an assembly for acupuncture by couplinga desired number of devices to each other in a radial direction. Thatis, it is possible for a user to easily fabricate a desired acupunctureassembly using the devices of this invention regardless of the size orshape of the target assembly. In the present invention, the device foracupuncture may be produced as a larger module formed by an integrationof two or three unit cells.

The acupuncture device of this invention may be produced as a very smallunit cell, having a palmtop size or a very small portable size, or maybe used as a unit cell of a very large assembly having a bed mattresssize. The users are allowed to purchase a desired number of devices foracupuncture at the same time or separately. The device for acupunctureof this invention thus effectively accomplishes a desired acupuncturetreatment effect expected by a radiation of far infrared rays, anionsand lines of magnetic force onto a desired part of the human body. Asdescribed above, the present invention provides a device foracupuncture. This device is formed as a plate-type unit cell foracupuncture, the unit cell being designed to be usable separately andindependently or to be usable as an acupuncture assembly with aplurality of unit cells being coupled to each other into a plate-typeassembly, having desired shape and size meeting the shape and size of aselected part of the human body to be cured by the assembly. The devicefor acupuncture of this invention may be attached to a desired part ofthe human body using a band during an acupuncture treatment process. Aplurality of devices may be coupled to each other into a desiredassembly having a bed mattress size. The device for acupuncture of thisinvention thus allows a user to save money while purchasing such adevice and gives a desired acupuncture treatment effect to the user.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have beendisclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art willappreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions arepossible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the inventionas disclosed in the accompanying claims.

1. A device for acupuncture, comprising: a pressure plate having acentral opening at a center thereof; a cap mounted to a upper surface ofsaid pressure plate and seating a permanent magnet therein, a magneticbody seated in said cap while being brought into contact with saidmagnet at a upper end thereof within the cap, said magnetic bodyextending through the central opening of the pressure plate so as toproject outside a lower surface of said pressure plate at a lower endthereof and concentrating the lines of the magnetic force emitted fromsaid permanent magnet thereby; and support means for holding said cap,said permanent magnet and said magnetic body on the pressure plate. 2.The device according to claim 1, wherein said support means is a tubularmember, said tubular member being fitted into said central opening ofthe pressure plate from the lower surface of said plate and being lockedto said cap at its first end, with said magnetic body axially extendingthrough said tubular member.
 3. The device according to claim 2, whereinsaid tubular member has a flange at its upper end, with a fitting hubbeing defined on an external surface of the tubular member at a positionunder said flange, and said cap has a central hole on its bottom wall,whereby the flange of the tubular member is seated on and stopped by aninterior surface of an edge of said central hole of the cap, thuslocking the tubular member to the cap.
 4. The device according to claim2, wherein said magnetic body is flanged on its first end coming intocontact with the magnet, thus having a seat flange at said upper end,said seat flange of the magnetic body being seated on the first end ofsaid tubular member, thus holding a position of said magnetic bodyrelative to the tubular member.
 5. The device according to claim 1,wherein said pressure plate has a polygonal profile.
 6. The deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein said pressure plate is provided with aprominence and depression structure allowing two or more pressure platesto be assembled with each other into an assembly when necessary.
 7. Thedevice according to claim 6, wherein said prominence and depressionstructure is composed of both a fitting rod and a channelled fittingtube, with the fitting rod of one pressure plate being elasticallyfitted into the channelled fitting tube of another pressure plate whentwo or more pressure plates are assembled into an assembly.
 8. Thedevice according to claim 1, wherein said pressure plate is providedwith both hook and pile pieces of a Velcro fastener allowing two or morepressure plates to be assembled with each other into an assembly whennecessary.
 9. The device according to claim 1, wherein the lower end ofsaid magnetic body has a conical shape with a sharpened tip.
 10. Adevice for acupuncture, comprising: a pressure plate having a permanentmagnet in a chamber formed on a upper surface of the plate; a magneticbody set in said pressure plate while being brought into contact withsaid magnet at a upper end thereof and projecting outside a lowersurface of said pressure plate at a lower end thereof; and a tubularmember fitted into said pressure plate and holding both said permanentmagnet and said magnetic body on the pressure plate, said tubular memberhaving a central bore allowing said magnetic body to axially extendthrough until the magnetic body projects outside the second lowersurface of the pressure plate at its lower end.
 11. The device accordingto claim 10, wherein said pressure plate is provided with a prominenceand depression structure allowing two or more pressure plates to beassembled with each other into an assembly when necessary.
 12. Thedevice according to claim 10, wherein the lower end of said magneticbody has a conical shape.